The designer as ‘gatekeeper’ in manufacturing industry

Abstract For the past three years the Design Innovation Group at the Open University in collaboration with Vivien Walsh at UMIST has been examining the processes, practices and management of product design, development and innovation in several sectors of manufacturing industry. This paper presents some of the findings, in particular from the survey of the plastics products sector, but with additional evidence from a preliminary analysis of data in the office furniture, domestic heating equipment and electronic business equipment industries. The focus of the paper is on the employment and activities of product designers and their role as ‘gatekeepers’, who, in the commercially successful, ‘design-conscious’ firms, manage to integrate the contributions of marketing, design and production in new product development. The paper also includes some evidence on the relationship between ‘good design’ and business performance.